Thousands of Michigan workers, students, seniors and others are heading for the state capitol in Lansing today for a massive rally against Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) proposed budget that cuts $900 million from education, taxes pensions, raises taxes for low-income families and slashes vital services–all while, cutting business taxes by $1.7 billion.

If Michigan voters could do it over, they would pick Democrat Virg Bernero as governor over Rick Snyder by a slim margin. That’s a major drop in popularity for Snyder who won by an 18 percent margin in November. And it’s all due to his anti-worker policies.

More than 5,000—and the crowd is growing—Michigan union, community, education and other activists are on the Lansing Capitol grounds and inside the state House this afternoon to protest Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) new “financial martial law.”

Thousands of Michigan union, community, student, faith and other activists are on their way to Lansing today for a massive rally to protest Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) blatant assault on democracy with his “financial martial law” bill that won final legislative approval yesterday.

In an outrageous power grab, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and the Republican-dominated state Senate passed, and sent back to the House, legislation today that allows Snyder to declare a local city to be in a financial emergency and appoint an emergency manager. That manager can, without anyone else’s approval, cancel contracts, including collective bargaining agreements, force consolidation of schools, townships, cities and counties and, unbelievably, unilaterally remove local elected officials.

Jesse Sipe, Michigan State AFL-CIO field communications representative, sends us this report.

While people around the world have been fighting for freedom and democracy, the Michigan legislature has recently taken a step in the opposite direction. The Michigan House of Representatives passed legislation that will greatly extend the powers of emergency financial managers (EFMs). This bill essentially will take away our voting power by allowing EFMs to remove locally elected officials without seeking authority or approval from any elected body or from the people.

Sixty-thousands working people were at the Wisconsin state capitol in Madison yesterday continuing the massive protests against Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) assault on middle-class jobs and workers’ collective bargaining rights–and they’re coming back again today. Between 1,000 and 2,000 tea partiers turned out yesterday–but guess who got the big media coverage?